Summer Passion Chapter 04: Afternoon
by Dakk Tribal
Summary: Shirley decides to take a dive-literally-and what happens afterwards can only be described as a miracle / Lelouch and Shirley pairing


The afternoon sun was still hot, and even having just gotten out of the water, Milly got a sweat from climbing up the hill. A hill that housed a waterfall that was quite a popular of a diving spot for the students of Ashford Academy at this resort.

Milly looked up to the top of the waterfall, and saw Shirley walking towards the jumping off point. She really couldn't believe that her friend was going to try and dive off it. "Hey! You better be careful, Shirley! It's pretty high up there!" Milly shouted.

The waterfall drowned out Milly's words, and Shirley was standing near the edge of the waterfall and looking over to see a large pool of water down below. _'Right…this is higher than I had thought…but I guess things look smaller when you're looking up,'_ Shirley thought, shaking her head to avoid getting dizzy. She didn't know how high she actually was, but if the other students could pull off a dive without getting hurt, then she could as well.

But she had to gather courage to move her feet first—

"Shirley!" Milly called out to her friend.

"Whoa!" Shirley nearly tumbled over the edge but was able to regain her balance, and she turned to Milly, "You almost made me fall!"

Milly smiled, "Sorry." She looked over the edge to see the pool below. "Wow…so you're going to actually do it?"

Shirley straightened the strap of her bikini top on her shoulder nervously, "Yeah. That's the plan."

"Well, I hope you know what you're doing, at least two other students were reportedly injured jumping from here. I'd hate to see you end up in a hospital bed while on vacation," Milly said, showing her concern.

Shirley stretched her arms over her head, and she acknowledged her friend's worry, "I'll be alright."

"Okay…just thought I'd put my two cents in." Milly again looked over the edge. She felt exceptionally hesitant to do anything further, 'I won't do it though—'

Shirley had run past Milly and took her dive without any sort of hesitation.

Milly fell back and landed on her backside in the dirt, "A little warning next time!"

Shirley held her breath all the way down, and when she hit the water the sudden cold hit her like a brick wall. She felt dizzy at first for some reason, but she knew she had pulled the dive off right. Resurfacing she waved back up at Milly with both arms. Milly returned with a wave of her own and vanished from Shirley's sight. "That was fun…except for the part where I got shaken and stirred…"

The dive seemed to have taken a larger toll on Shirley than she had originally thought, as she was barely able to stand when she reached shallow water, falling to her knees and bringing a hand to her forehead.

Closing her eyes, Shirley tried to gather herself and got back on her feet. She didn't stay that way for long, as when she got out of the water and her feet hit the sand she immediately fell on her back.

To Shirley, the world felt like it was going around in circles at a hundred miles per hour. She kept her eyes closed to try and get a grip, but the grip of someone else's hands on her shoulders made her open her eyes again slightly.

"Shirley…you alright?"

Nodding, Shirley sat up slowly and felt a warm hand was on her back that helped steady her, "Yeah, I guess I underestimated the height…knocked me for a loop." She looked up at who was talking to her, and she was surprised at who it was.

Dressed in a pair of swimming shorts and nothing else, Lelouch smiled at Shirley and then looked up at the cliff she had just jumped from, "I agree. It doesn't seem too high from down here."

Shirley was too into looking at Lelouch himself to pay attention to his words, as he looked more handsome than he normally was thanks to the light of the sun. The fact that Shirley had feelings for Lelouch was not a secret she had been able to hide, what with Milly and some of her other friends knew about it. Whether Lelouch knew it or not he didn't say, and if he did know, he was keeping it to himself really well.

Shirley put her hand on her forehead again, still feeling somewhat disoriented from the dive she had taken. _'Guess that will be my lesson on trying something like that again.'_

Lelouch rest a hand on one of Shirley's knees, "Never thought you'd try diving. You could have been hurt much worse than you did."

"No need to worry about me, Lulu, I'm tougher than I look."

Lelouch smiled again, "You sure are. I've seen that first hand."

As she sat there with him, Shirley actually wished that she could be like this for just a little while longer; being this close to Lelouch was quite nice. "Well, we better go and enjoy ourselves as much as we can while we are here, right?" Shirley started to get to her feet, but Lelouch had not put any space between them.

"What if I said I simply enjoyed being in your company?"

Not sure if she had heard him right the first time, Shirley looked up into his violet eyes, "Huh?"

Lelouch's hand had remained on her back, and he used it to pull her closer to him, "Better to show than tell I suppose."

Their faces were almost touching, but the heat from Shirley's cheeks was so hot that Lelouch had to feel them. Her mind began to wonder what was fully happening, Shirley was only able to let things unfold because she was unsure of what to do. Should she try and say something, or raise her hands to stop him?

He didn't give her a chance to react in the end, as the kiss that came next took quite literally took her breath away.

It was soft, just like his lips, and was better than anything Shirley's mind could dream up. Only in her wildest dreams would she have imagined that she'd be doing this with Lelouch, kissing the man she had always had feelings for, and it was quite exquisite.

Shirley's cheeks were on fire, and her heart was pounding faster than it ever had before, even more so after Lelouch put his free hand on her shoulder. Surely he could feel her body shaking with the mix of emotions she was feeling.

After what seemed like an eternity they parted contact as much as Shirley didn't want it to end. "Lelouch…"

"You enjoyed that, right Shirley?"

She couldn't deny that she had, and as surreal as it felt, she parted her lips to speak, "Please…I want more, Lelouch."

Lelouch leaned back in towards Shirley, whose eyes were half closed, "Whatever you want Shirley, is yours. Including me."

And that was all she really wanted. The warmth Shirley had felt before returned, and her heart flew to the clouds as she fully closed her eyes…

"Shirley…"

She heard her name and she felt her world spinning.

"Shirley? Shirley, you alright?"

That was Lelouch's voice, and when Shirley opened her eyes again she was looking up at the sky. That was bizarre because just a second ago she had literally been in Lelouch's arms, why was she…?

Her eyes focused and both Milly and Lelouch were looking down at her, and both seemed oddly concerned.

Milly spoke first, "Hey, you're awake!"

'Awake…?' Shirley thought putting a hand to her forehead, feeling herself becoming dizzy again, "What happened?"

"Well, you took that dive and you got hurt, might be a concussion from the impact of hitting the water. Lelouch had arrived to pull you out, and he gave you CPR," Milly explained.

Shirley sat up slowly, looking at Lelouch who was soaked from the water, "I…Is that what happened?"

Lelouch scratched the back of his head, "Lucky I saw you do the dive and jumped in to get you after you didn't respond."

Shirley realized that, everything she had thought she had experienced; including that kiss from Lelouch was all a product of being knocked unconscious.

Needless to say the impact of reality greatly disappointed Shirley, not to mention embarrassed her so much that she blushed red as an apple. It had felt so real to her though she could have sworn it had actually happened. "Oh, so that was all it was. Guess it was too good to be true…"

Both Milly and Lelouch exchanged curious looks. Lelouch did speak up, "Shirley you should go and see a doctor, make sure you really are okay."

Milly helped Shirley get to her feet, "I'll take her Lelouch."

Lelouch nodded, and then Shirley's eyes locked with his, and for some reason he could feel something coming off her. Like something more was bothering her but she tried to keep it inside. "Shirley?"

But she smiled, "I'll go rest Lelouch, no need to worry about me."

She hid her feelings so well that Lelouch would never know what she had dreamt that day, or how much she wanted it to be true.


End file.
